


Melody at the End of the World

by fumiko6



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Ambiguous Relationships, Depression, Existential Angst, F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-05 07:51:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18824365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fumiko6/pseuds/fumiko6
Summary: Nico finally confesses to Maki. Maki rejects her, but then... an asteroid is about to hit the earth that will destroy humanity.





	Melody at the End of the World

**Author's Note:**

> This story was started in 2016 or so and was about 80% complete then; I recently re-discovered the draft and decided it was worth finishing. I haven't done anything related to love live in at least two years. If anything seems ooc, that's probably why.

Neither of them knew what to expect when one of them finally confessed.    
   
They had been avoiding each other ever since their final performance as members of Muse. Maki blamed Nico for it, of course. Honestly, it wasn't as if Maki didn't *like* Nico, but her feelings were just so complicated right now. The other girl was bratty, annoying, rude, and worst of all kind of cute. Like, did she even *like* her that way? What did it even mean to like somebody like that? Feelings were difficult to comprehend.  
   
The confession came on a breezy night at the beginning of summer on the school's rooftop, with the lights of the city casting an orange reflection against the clouds. When Nico invited her to this rendevouz, Maki had a vague idea of its purpose. When Maki saw her face, she was certain. Words were exchanged, first soft and then increasingly harsh. Insults were traded. Feelings were wounded, perhaps irreparably. They departed separately, Nico first and then Maki half an hour later. When she left her mind was a mess, a jumble of contradictory threads tangled into an impossible knot.  
 

* * *

  
   
"Um, Maki-chan, are you still not talking to her?", Hanayo asked over the phone.  
   
"No... well, why should I talk to her in the first place?"  
   
"I just think that since the third years are graduated now, it'll become harder for us to stay in contact with each other, so, um,..."  
   
"That's bound to happen. Every relationship ends someday. We have to move on and cherish the memories we had. Or something like that."  
   
"Wow, how wise. But, it was more like your relationship with her never got off the ground, wasn't it?"  
   
"Wait, that's not what I meant! I was just saying that-"  
   
"You should just talk to her. How hard could it be?"  
   
Maki sighed. She was too transparent. "It's harder than you can possibly imagine. Maybe I could talk to her if an asteroid was about to hit the Earth."  
   
"Don't say things like that! I'm sure she doesn't actually hate you!"  
   
"Yeah, well, sorry, Hanayo, but I'll have to take my time. I don't think you'll understand."  
   
"If you're always being so complicated, who will understand you?"  
   
"Look, Hanayo-"  
   
"I'm sorry about what I said! Um, I have to go now."  
   
Maki sighed, and fell backwards onto her bed. Why? Why did everything have to turn out this way? Where did it all go awry? What did she do wrong?  
   
The incident wasn't the real problem. It was everything that had happened until then. All the lies she had told, all the words left unsaid. And for what?  
 

* * *

  
   
"Check the news," read the message from Nozomi. Maki opened the app on her phone. All the headlines were the same. "Asteroid Predicted to Hit Earth in One Week." "Largest Asteroid Impact in 65 Million Years." "No Hope to Stop Asteroid, Says NASA."  
   
It had to have been some cruel joke. She had to check that it wasn't April 1st. She checked all the other news sites, and they all said the same thing, the same headlines with pictures of space rocks and dinosaurs plastered all over. She went downstairs where her parents were fixed to the screen. Maki saw the tears in their eyes. Wordlessly, her mother stood up, and pulled Maki down to the sofa. Her father and mother put their arms around her, and each other, and started to sob once more. "I love you... We love you... We're sorry for everything bad that's happened... " Her parents' mumbles were intermixed with their sobs. Apologies. Promises for the weeks ahead. Maki sat there silently, taking it all in, letting her parents' words flow through her. It wasn't real. None of this was real. It was a dream from which she could wake up at any moment. It was a nightmare she wished she could escape from.  
   
Her parents had stopped talking now, and her mother relaxed her grasp. On her cheeks she felt the stains of tears that were not her own. It still didn't feel real to Maki, as if it was all happening to someone else, and she was inhabiting a body that didn't truly belong to her. She still expected to wake up at any moment. Things like this didn't just happen. She remembered that offhand remark to Hanayo yesterday. No. That couldn't have had anything to do with it. It was just ridiculous. The stars weren't evil or vindictive. They couldn't care about what she thought. It was all just a huge galactic coincidence.  
   
The stars couldn't care less about her. They weren't her friends or her companions. She was nothing to them. Her thoughts, her family, her loves, what were they compared to the heavens? In the face of the starlit sky she was just another speck on a planet that was about to be destroyed.  
   
To the stars she was less than a grain of dust.  
   
That was when Maki began to cry.  
 

* * *

  
   
They had thought the nine of them would never be together on this rooftop again. Their faces were somber, and they moved sluggishly. Even Honoka and Rin seemed to lack energy.  
   
"So," Honoka began while brushing aside her falling tears, "I wanted to spend our last moments on this earth... *sob*, doing what we all love the best. That's why we should do, uh, *sniffle* one last live."  
   
The other girls were silent for a moment.  
   
"I think that's a good idea," Nozomi said.  
   
"Yeah!" Honoka seemed to regain some of her energy. "We have less than seven days to prepare, so we have to be busy. Maki and Umi, do you want to write a new song?"  
   
"Yes," Umi replied. "It will take my mind off our upcoming demise." Umi was harsh as always.  
   
"I guess I can do it," Maki said, with a tinge of hesitance.  
   
"Alright then! Any objections?" No one moved.  
   
"Okay! Let's break up for today."  
   
"And let's meet back here tomorrow morning at 8AM," Umi said.    
   
Rin groaned. "Aww, but I want to sleep in!"  
   
"We'll have plenty of time to do that afterwards," Eli said. Maki didn't know she was one for dark humor.  
   
"Okayyyy."  
   
It was as if everything was back to normal.  
 

* * *

  
   
Work continued like there wasn't an asteroid about to kill everyone. The news told of riots and wars in other countries, and sudden peace agreements in others. Some countries started building massive underground bunkers. Other countries spoke of launching nuclear attacks against the asteroid (that would probably make the problem worse since the broken-up asteroid would still hit the Earth). Japan stayed mostly the same as usual. The mail was delivered every day. The grocery stores stayed stocked. The traffic might have been a little better.  
   
It was Nico who first approached her. "Hey, Maki, how's the song going?"  
   
"It's not. I can't think of anything." Maki leaned against the rooftop railing, facing away from Nico.  
   
"What about Umi?"  
   
"She literally cries every single minute she's alone. She's hopeless."  
   
"Oh." Nico was unusually quiet. So was everyone else, Maki supposed. They were taking a break from practice, and the others had gone to get food.  
   
It was the first time the two of them had spoken since the incident. Either incident.  
   
"How are you holding up?", Nico asked after a long pause.  
   
"Well, we're all going to die and there's nothing we can do about it. No use in getting hung up. Right?"  
   
"You can't be serious."  
   
"Really? Why?"  
   
"Can't be serious about being this... easy-going! I thought you would fight this. Or at least have, you know, more feelings and stuff. Like you have strong feelings about every little thing but then when the fucking end of the world comes you're just like 'whatever'."  
   
"Yeah, well, maybe I'm tired of everything."  
   
"What does that even mean?"  
   
"I dunno."  
   
"Oh, come on! You can't just give up like this! You have to-"  
   
Maki had already walked through the door back inside. Nico didn't come after her. Did Maki want her to? She wasn't sure. She walked down the stairs, through the empty corridors where the dust danced in the midday sun, past empty classrooms that would never again see new students, past the memories that she once held dear. She walked through the doors, and kept on walking, towards nowhere in particular.  
   
The streets were quiet for Tokyo. There were no crowds jostling in front of stores no crosswalks jammed with pedestrians, no traffic jams or buses buzzing by. The people that were out were mostly alone, like Maki, wearing downtrodden expressions on their faces and slouched in their gait.  
   
Maki's house was empty when she arrived. The servants had gone home. Her parents were God knows where. She dropped onto the couch and stretched. Everyone died someday, just some people died sooner than others. Maybe the best thing she could do right now was kill herself. End it all as soon as she could, because what did it matter whether she died now or in a month. Or in fifty or sixty years. It would all be the same. It has always been the same.  
   
The sound of the doorbell broke Maki out of her reverie. Scrunging up whatever energy she had left, she opened the door. It was Hanayo.  
   
"Why did you leave in the middle of practice?" she asked.  
   
Maki stared at her. "Sorry. I was feeling tired. Was that why you came here?"  
   
"Um, I have something else to tell you, Maki, but it's a secret so don't tell anyone else yet." Hanayo was still wearing her practice outfit, but she had put her glasses back on for whatever reason.  
   
"Sure. What is it?"  
   
"Um, so I've been reading some things on the Internet, and, um, maybe all the scientists were lying. To prevent everyone from panicking. There might be a way for us to survive, you know, the asteroid."  
   
"Really? How?"  
   
"Okay, so the asteroid will hit the Pacific ocean near Japan, right? And cause a giant tsunami? As long as we're far enough from the sea and high enough, we'll live for the moment. The next problem will be the storms, and then the global winter. Which means that we'll need a way to get food for the next five years."  
   
"If we don't drown then we'll starve."  
   
"No! That's the thing. I've talked to Eli, and her family in Russia has a house in Siberia where there's geothermal energy and greenhouses and old nuclear shelters! We haven't told anyone else about this, but maybe we want all nine of us and our families to go there."  
   
"So why haven't you told everyone else yet?"  
   
"Because I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up needlessly."  
   
"So what do you want me to do?"  
   
Hanayo had put on a stern visage. "We need your resources to-"  
   
"Of fucking course you need my resources," Maki muttered.  
   
Hanayo continued on. "We need a way to get to Russia that's not on a commercial airline. We also need food, water, medical supplies, and stuff like that. So maybe your family's connections could help us out."  
   
"I won't do it."  
   
Hanayo glared at Maki. "If you want to die, then go ahead, but don't condemn the rest of us."  
   
"Woah, when did you become so dominating..."  
   
Hanayo stood up. "Do you really just want to stay here and die? Is that what you want? Is there nothing that's worth living for?" The once-demure Hanayo spoke with a confidence she rarely had.  
   
"No, I don't think there is..." Maki turned away from Hanayo.  
   
"Then can't you at least help those of us who want to live?"  
   
Maki hesitated for a moment, twirling her hair.  
   
"Okay, I guess."  
   
"Okay, that's good." Hanayo made an eerie smile. "I'll be talking to you soon. And, um, sorry... do you want to talk about anything else?"  
   
Maki sat on her chair, thinking for a moment. She would have to talk to her parents. Of course they would work with them and of course they would want to bring her along. Normally you would expect people to get desperate in the apocalypse, desperate to live, to cling on to whatever shred of hope they had. Her parents would probably be the same way.  
   
"No, I don't really want to talk right now."  
   
Hanayo frowned and got up. "Um, okay. I'm here if you need help, okay?"  
   
With that Maki was alone again. That night her parents were ecstatic about the plan as Maki expected. They were ready to contribute whatever they could to the project. Why aren't you happy about this, mom asked Maki. She didn't know how to respond.  
 

* * *

  
   
"I have an announcement to make," Hanayo said at Muse's meeting the next morning. All eyes were on Hanayo as they stood about the rooftop. "We might have a way to survive the asteroid. We aren't sure, though, and we'll have to work hard together. Are you all interested?"  
   
Curious looks. Hopeful smiles.  
   
"Is this real or some kind of cruel joke?", Nico asked, breaking the silence.  
   
"I promise it's real," Hanayo answered.  
   
She, Eli, and Maki explained their plan, and laid out what they still needed. Food to tide them over until the greenhouse operations would begin. Seeds and agricultural implements. Fuel. Medicine. Water filters. Batteries. Manufacturing equipment. Communications. Spare parts for everything. Weapons (a few winces around the rooftop). Genetic material for repopulating the world (more winces as Hanayo mentioned that with a straight face; others pretend to not hear).  
   
"So does this mean that we won't be doing our final Live anymore?", Honoka asked.  
   
Eli shook her head. "I think we should focus on the plan."  
   
Nods of assent. Anxious looks around the group. Nico.  
   
"Are you sure about this? It all sounds too convenient to me. Like it's a ploy to keep us from killing ourselves."  
   
Silence for a moment. Hanayo spoke up.  
   
"It's the only hope we have. If you don't want to do this you're free to either try to find some other way to survive or die. But we would certainly like to have you with us." Nico looked cowed.  
   
Hanayo continued. "We have to divide our work. Third years, work on communications, shelter, and defense. Second years, gather up food and supplies and find temporary storage. First years, we'll deal with medicine, manufacturing, and transportation to the site. Talk to your families but don't tell anyone else about our plan. Hurry. We only have six days remaining."  
   
The groups separated as they talked amongst themselves. "Have you talked with your family about transportation, Maki?", Hanayo asked.  
   
"My parents know a private pilot who can probably take us there. But she's probably going to want to bring her family along. And her daughter is going to want to bring her friends too."  
   
Hanayo frowned. "We can only take so many people. Find out how many people and how many things one plane can take and we'll work around that."  
   
"Why can't we bring more people?" Rin asked.  
   
"Eli said that the shelters can only hold fifty people. We can only grow food for maybe thirty. With all of us and our families that'll be all."  
   
"Oh." Rin looked down. Maki felt the urge to pat her head.    
   
"Sorry. It's just... sorry."  
 

* * *

  
   
"What do you mean I can't bring my friends?" Fumiko, tears streaming, shouted at everyone around her, but Maki had to bear the brunt of her words.  
   
"I'm sorry. We only have space for so many people and-"  
   
"It's not fair! We're part of Muse too, aren't we? You all wouldn't even have met if it weren't for us!"  
   
Maki sighed, and twirled her hair. Fumiko, the pilot's daughter and unofficial Muse member, was right. What could she even say to her? Her mother spoke first.  
   
"Fumiko, look, we all have to-"  
   
"No! Mom, how could you go along with this? It's wrong! Maybe I shouldn't go! Maybe I should just die here with my friends with no one noticing us! After all that would be the usual!"  
   
Hanayo glared at the girl. "Do you think we want your friends to die? What if you were in our place? Won't you put your own friends before us?"  
   
Fumiko shook her head, and tried to wipe away the tears that were still flowing. "I would try to find a way to save everyone..."  
   
"Well it's not too late. Go try to find a way to save them that doesn't involve us."  
   
Fumiko trudged away and up to her room, still wiping away her tears. "Let's go," Hanayo commanded Maki. "We still need to acquire medical supplies."  
   
They left Fumiko's house and walked back toward Maki's house. The house was their base for now, where they planned their operations and stored their supplies. Maki's parents had helped them pilfer drugs and medical supplies.  
   
Maki still hadn't told them about her own plans. She probably never would.  
   
She walked in silence, watching Hanayo walking in front of her. Somehow everything about her had changed, but her gait stayed the same, still uncertain and lightly slouching, as if probing the world before making any movements.  
   
Nothing about the world made sense anymore. Why were they leading the movement to survival instead of their parents? How did they even know about the Siberia bunker? Did they really expect that this ridiculous plan would work? How did everyone already change so much?  
   
"Hey Hanayo, how did you become so... confident?"  
   
"Maybe I'm just pretending."  
   
"Oh, really? But you seem so different."  
   
Hanayo smiled bashfully, as if she were back to being the shy girl she once was. "I just want to keep on living, to survive with all of us, because I care about my friends and the people I love. And I'll do what is needed to survive. Is that too much?"  
   
So it's okay to be cruel to those who aren't your friends, Maki wanted to say. But that would be wrong of her. "No. It's just... sorry I've been so useless."  
   
"I don't think you're useless." Hanayo took hold of Maki's hand.  
   
"Thanks." For a moment Maki felt better, as if she could board the plane to Siberia with everyone she cared about and they would survive in the wilderness and everything would be just fine, end of the world or not.  
 

* * *

  
   
The days passed quicker than Maki expected, maybe since she was so wrapped up in preparations. The conversations with her family had gone as they expected. Acquiring supplies wasn't so troublesome, since her parents handled most of the talking. There was no repeat of the incident with Fumiko, since they had all been careful not to reveal their plans.  
   
Hanayo was sitting by the alpaca pen when Maki arrived after dropping off the last of the medical supplies. She had a laptop open, staring at spreadsheets dense with numbers. When she noticed Maki she tapped a few more numbers into the spreadsheet.  
   
"Thank you. Now we just need to wait for the second years with their food, and then we can head to the airport."  
   
"And then we'll leave?"  
   
"That's the plan."  
   
Maki walked over to Hanayo and sat down on the dirt. The alpacas were chewing contentedly, in blissful ignorance of their imminent doom. Or something like that.  
   
"Say, where's Rin?"  
   
"She's working with the third years on our security plans. Apparently someone tried to rob her house and now she's really worried."  
   
Things had been getting worse in the past few says. Stories of riots, of wanton destruction even in Japan. Maybe the world really was ending, people realized. Maybe there really was no future.  
   
Kotori walked over while Maki was deep in thought. "We've dropped off all the food. Everything on your list is done."  
   
"Thanks. We'll be ready to leave by tonight."  
 

* * *

  
   
The preparations were almost complete. In the evening they moved all the remaining supplies from the school to the airport. The roads were empty, all good since Nozomi was not exactly an experienced driver. Past the school, past the skyscrapers, get onto the highway, drive for thirty minutes in the absence of traffic. A sound, the roar of other engines. A camouflaged truck emerged from a side road. A glint of metal from a window, and a flash. Popping sounds. "Are they shooting at us?" Nico shouted. Nozomi swerved; the shots missed and their van teetered but stayed on the road. Eli calmly picked up her rifle and aimed at the truck. She fired three shots through the windshield, and watched the truck careen over the side of a bridge, crashing into the water below. Nico's face became pale as she glanced at Eli, an indescribable look on the latter's face.  
   
There were no more ambushes coming. A small consolation.  
   
At the airport, a small private one on the outskirts of Tokyo, the other members of Muse and their closest family were already waiting, along with the pilot and Fumiko.  
   
"You don't look well. What happened?", Maki asked as the third years emerged.  
   
"Someone tried to fucking kill us," Nico answered. "We got them first though."  
   
"Let's load everything onto the plane," said Eli.  
   
"I have to get something," Maki said.  
   
"Make it quick," Hanayo replied.  
   
Now was the time for Maki's master plan. Or rather, complete absence of a plan. All she knew was that she would not be on that plane. Besides that, how was she going to spend her last day on earth?  
   
The evening was just beginning to turn into dusk. It was an overcast night, the sky becoming ever-darker shades of gray as Maki wandered back into the city. She wasn't sure where she was going, but surprisingly the GPS and cell service were still working.  
 

* * *

  
   
"Where's Maki? She's nowhere around here!" Nico was frantic.  
   
"Leave her be," Hanayo said. "Maybe she doesn't want to come with us."  
   
"No, that can't be true. I'll go find her. Cocoro, make sure everyone stays here and leaves without me if you have to." With that she ran off, leaving the group behind.  
   
"Should we look too?", Rin asked.  
   
"No." Hanayo was stern. "We'll wait for an hour and then we'll leave."  
   
Nico found Maki in a grassy field, lying on her back, gazing at the starless, moonless sky. It was a hot, muggy World's End Eve, leaving Maki sweating in her pajamas.  
   
"What the hell are you doing?", Nico shouted.  
   
"Sorry, but I don't want to go. Let Mika or Hideko on instead."    
   
"What is wrong with you? So you want to die?"  
   
"I mean, I wouldn't mind." Maki gently rocked herself back and forth, staring at everything except Nico.  
   
"Why?"  
   
"Look at us. We've already become monsters for the sake of surviving. Look at what Hanayo and Eli have become. Is that really better than just letting it all go?"  
   
Nico looked hesitant for a moment. "But, isn't there someone worth living for?"  
   
"Not really."  
   
"Not your parents? Not Muse? Not me?"  
   
"What was that last one?  
   
"I fucking love you, Maki. Live for me if nothing else."    
   
Maki already knew where this was going, and she did not like it.  
   
"That's awfully selfish."  
   
"Yeah, well, you're selfish for abandoning all the people who care about you."  
   
Maki wished that she could see the stars. It would be a good distraction from this converation.  
   
"Why do I deserve to live more than Mika or Hideko or literally any other person?"  
   
"Because you're our friend?"  
   
Maki sighed, and closed her eyes. "This is... probably the first choice I've ever made."  
   
"What the fuck does that mean?"  
   
"Choosing to die here. Choosing to not be a monster. Asserting that I'm just another human in this hell of a world, that I don't hold myself superior to anyone else. That I won't live for anyone else's sake."  
   
"That's dumb. What does all of that even mean?"  
   
"Yeah. I guess it is. All of this is."  
   
"You know what, fuck you, Maki."  
   
"Agreed."  
 

* * *

  
   
"How long are we going to wait for them?", Eli said to no one and everyone. "It's almost been an hour."  
   
"I'm going to call both of them," Hanayo said. "They'd better hurry back here."  
   
Maki's mother and father declared that they would look for Maki. Without waiting for consultation they got into their car and drove off.  
 

* * *

  
   
Maki's phone rang. She ignored it. Nico's phone rang afterwards. She answered it.  
   
"They say they're only waiting 30 minutes for you. If you don't come back they're gonna take off."  
   
"Go back then."  
   
"This isn't some philosophical game you utter idiot. This isn't a dream. This is real and you're gonna fucking die."  
   
"I know."  
   
"No. You don't. If you keep this up you're gonna die and it's gonna fucking suck."  
   
A car pulled up. "Maki, Nico, we're leaving!", shouted Maki's mother. "Come with us!"  
   
In the end the only motivation Maki had was filial obligation.  
 

* * *

  
   
"Hey. I'm glad you're here. Really."  
   
Nico was sitting next to Maki for the 10-hour plane ride. She had been uncharacteristically quiet until now, as the first gleams of light became visible over the horizon.  
   
Maki didn't know how to respond. She felt... nothing. Just emptiness.  
   
"Uh, thanks. I'm glad I'm here too." She didn't know whether she was lying. But it didn't matter. Glancing over, she saw that Nico's eyes were closed.  
   
The plane was silent five hours into their journey. Nico had fallen asleep. Everyone else was either asleep as well, or else deathly quiet. They were above the taiga now, an endless expanse of green forest. All of this would go up in flames soon enough.  
   
If all went well, they would be able to survive underground after the asteroid hit, with enough food for a few years, plus water, electricity, and a modicum of the trappings of civilization. Perhaps more realistically, something would go wrong along the way. The shelter wouldn't hold. The water filters would fail. The ventilation system would choke on the wildfire dust. Maybe they could fix it. Or maybe they couldn't. Then they would die. They would die and it wouldn't be anything meaningful or symbolic. In truth death never was. You would just turn into a corpse and decompose in the ground and that's it.  
   
It was then that Maki decided she would commit to surviving.  
  
Maki was growing tired as well. As she fell into a deep slumber she wondered if she would ever wake up. Would fighters or missiles blow them out of the sky? Would they be overcome by shockwaves from the asteroid's impact? Would the plane suffer from simple mechanical failures? What difference did it make?  
   
With those thoughts on her mind, she closed her eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> so like... honestly i wasn't sure if maki should have gotten on the plane or not at the end. originally i was going to have her choose to not join them, but i felt like it would promote unhealthy thought patterns :/


End file.
